Significantly less expensive than opening and operating a brick and mortar shop -- and with the added advantages of convenience for customers, targeted marketing options and comprehensive metrics on site traffic -- selling merchandise online is a good option for many small businesses to get their products out. From a single site you can reach a global customer base and, by implementing a few online analytics and marketing strategies, make your online sales and small business grow.

Setting Up a Website

The first thing you'll need to do is set up a website where customers can learn about your products and make purchases. Start by registering a domain name and selecting a Web hosting company, and then move on to designing your website. Be sure to include attractive -- professional, if you can afford it -- photography of your products and full and persuasive descriptions of your products and company. If you can't afford a professional designer, you can use template sites or, if you have a very limited budget, even set up your site on a blog platform.

Options for Sales Functionality

In order for customers to order merchandise from your site, you'll need to set up a shopping cart for sales functionality. Some software options include Volusion, Shoppify and Shopping Cart Elite, all of which allow customers to select items on your site and include a back-end for you to manage sales and inventory. If configuration isn't included in your shopping cart program, you'll also need to register a merchant account with a company like PayPal, WorldPay or Merchant Plus to allow you to make and receive payments online.

Shipping and Taxes

Even if your business is online, your customers will still want to receive their purchases in the real world. Many shopping cart programs come configured with different shipping options that automatically display rates from different companies like U.S. Mail, FedEx and UPS. Be sure to configure shipping options on your site or set your own rates and then dispatch products promptly through the selected service. You can also configure tax rates on most shopping carts and, in some cases, even print out sales documents for tax day.

Marketing and Metrics

One of the great advantages of online retailing is access to targeted online advertising platforms to drive traffic to your site. You can use options like a search engine and social media marketing -- which target ads based on terms users search or information from their profiles -- to make sure your links are going out to users who are likely to be interested in your products. You can also use analytics software to track users to your site, see what ads are working, where your traffic is coming from and continuously improve your site to boost sales.